All references cited in this specification, and their references, are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for teachings of additional or alternative details, features, and/or technical background.
Disclosed in the embodiments herein is an electrophotographic document production device wherein the high voltage transformer is removed from the high voltage AC power supply and placed near the load.
Certain devices have components that require a voltage high enough to cause corona discharge, a controlled static discharge. This corona discharge is used to charge or discharge a target member such as a photoreceptor belt in a xerographic copier or printer. This provides the component with sufficient instantaneous current density for proper operation, without exceeding a maximum average current value. In such components, if the required current density is greater than the desired average current, a chopped current at an appropriate duty cycle is required.
Some power supplies employ pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) for this type of use, which produces a high voltage pulse at a fixed duty cycle and varies the voltage to obtain the correct average current value. Other power supplies employ pulse width modulation (PWM) and pulse frequency modulation (PFM) all of which are used high voltage applications. In most cases, these switch-mode power conversion schemes are used to improve efficiency and reduce the size of magnetic devices such as transformers.
Among those devices that have such components are “image-on-image” xerographic color printers wherein multiple corotrons must be precision charged and controlled to provide desired print quality. FIG. 1 (prior art) is a simplified “image-on-image” xerographic color printer in which successive primary-color images are accumulated on a photoreceptor belt, and the accumulated superimposed images are in one step directly transferred to an output sheet as a full-color image.
Specifically, the FIG. 1 embodiment includes a belt photoreceptor 10, along which are disposed a series of stations, as is generally familiar in the art of xerography, one set for each primary color to be printed. For instance, to place a cyan color separation image on photoreceptor 10, there is used a charge corotron 12C, an imaging laser 14C, and a development unit 16C. For successive color separations, there are provided equivalent corotron, imaging laser and developer elements 12M, 14M, 16M (for magenta), 12Y, 14Y, 16Y (for yellow), and 12K, 14K, 16K (for black). The successive color separations are built up in a superimposed manner on the surface of photoreceptor 10, and then the combined full-color image is transferred at transfer station 20 to an output sheet. The output sheet is then run through a fuser 30, as is familiar in xerography.
Also shown in FIG. 1 is a set of what can be generally called “monitors,” such as 50 and 52, which can feed back to a control device 54. The monitors such as 50 and 52 are devices which can make measurements to images created on the photoreceptor 10 (such as monitor 50) or to images which were transferred to an output sheet (such as monitor 52). These monitors can be in the form of optical densitometers, calorimeters, electrostatic voltmeters, etc.
Control of voltage to a component or load may be by way of one or more transformer(s), magnetic devices consisting of two or more multiturn coils wound on a common core, the coil connected to the energy source being referred to as the primary coil or winding and the coil in which current is induced by the primary coil being referred to as the secondary coil or winding. As understood by those skilled in the art, the turns ratio of the primary coil to secondary coil determines the transformer's voltage ratio, an increase in turns of the secondary coil with respect to the primary coil resulting in a boost of voltage at the secondary. Sensing resistors in conjunction with a potentiometer may be used at the primary coil or secondary side of the transformer to control voltage placed across the load.
Electrophotographic document production devices may employ long high voltage wires from a high voltage AC power supply to the load, such as the corotrons. The high voltage wires may produce radiated emissions, additional loading due to capacitive coupling, arcing, radiated noise and unintended corona discharge. To reduce this effect, the wires have in the past been placed in restricted locations such as in “snap-in” brackets with foam tubing around the wires to enforce strict spacing requirements around the wires. The use of an OZAC system, an architecture in which the high voltage wires are routed through ozone hoses, has also been employed.
It will be appreciated that these ozone hoses exist in the machine for the purpose of removing corrosive ozone gas from the load devices. Placing the HV wires inside these hoses is a secondary function of the hoses, not the primary function. i.e, the hoses are not filled with ozone gas to somehow “fix” the problems created by the HV wires. Rather, the relatively large diameter of the hoses serves to enforce spacing requirements on the wires inside them.
Alternatively, some systems mount the high voltage power source directly behind/above/next to the load device (so-called “point-of-load”), eliminating the need for high voltage wires altogether. Each of such correction systems requires considerable cost and design effort, and may be less than advantageous given space constraints in the device.
There is a need therefore for other methods for reducing high voltage wire extraneous effects on components in an electrophotographic document production device.